Free Music Archive receives support from the MacArthur Foundation

WFMU is pleased to announce a major grant received from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur  Foundation in support of the Free Music Archive. The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. We are inspired by MacArthur's values, and honored that the foundation shares in our vision for the Free Music Archive.

The Free Music Archive has grown rapidly since our beta-launch; our library now houses over 20,000 free and legal mp3 downloads curated by a broad spectrum of organizations. The project began at WFMU-FM, where we originally envisioned the Free Music Archive as a means to extend its mission of "free public access to curated audio" into the Internet era. But it has become so much more than that. Today, the Free Music Archive is a platform for curators of all stripes -- not just radio stations like WFMU, KEXP and CBC Radio 3, but also live arts presenters like Brooklyn’s ISSUE Project Room, established cultural institutions like the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, many of the world's top netlabels, world-renowned commercial labels, and key forces in the free culture movement like the Creative Commons organization -- to reach a global audience and build community through shared content.

Support from the MacArthur Foundation will help our library continue to grow alongside significant new functionality and social features; including a recommendation system based on user listening preferences, last.fm scrobbling, and an enhanced API. Though it does not fund the project in its entirety, this grant brings us significantly closer to achieving our ambitious goals, helping us work toward a sustainable charitable model that will further enrich the work of everyone involved. Support from the MacArthur Foundation is good news for artists with music to share, curators in need of an online platform, producers in search of quality audio for their creative projects, and quite possibly everyone who likes music. You can read more about what's in store here, and donate to help make it possible.

>> Here's a PDF of the full press release

Comments

[doncbruital]

great news!

[Listener James from Westwood]

Many congrats to the whole FMA crew. A victory for all those who know that "free" isn't a four-letter word when it's applied to creative content.

[Eman]

Halleleujah Brother!

[Julie Drizin]

Congratulations on your part in creating a more just, verdant and whatever world. That's awesomely groovy news. Free spirit, Free music, Free sound, Freedom rocks!

[Nat]

You're a genius, Jason.

Let the scrobbling commence!

[boil]

Best news since Obama!